KITCO Celebrating 45th Anniversary in Kochi

Kochi: The 45th anniversary celebration of KITCO Ltd., one of the premier engineering, management and project consultancy firms in India, will be held in Kochi on September 15.

A C Moideen, Minister for Industries, will launch KITCO’s handholding programme for MSME sector on the occasion. KITCO, which has been offering its services to major corporate firms, is launching the programme with an aim to uplift micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and increase their contribution to the economy. It will provide all kinds of support for MSMEs to emerge successful.

Addressing a media conference here, Cyriac Davies, MD, KITCO, said, “Though the MSME sector has huge potential in India, huge gap exists between potential and the real performance. Our programme aims to make MSMEs competitive and we will support them in areas such as technology, management and accounting, among others.”

Under the programme, KITCO will extend technological assistance to MSMEs to enable them to compete in the highly competitive market. According to KITCO, MSMEs will be able to offer cheaper and quality products only by adopting latest technologies. “Shortage of funds is another issue faced by the MSME sector. It also poses a hurdle for the sector to adopt latest technologies and implement new marketing strategies. The handholding programme will also help to address these issues to a great extent. It proposes efficient use of new funding sources such as venture capital and private equity funds. KITCO will not only propose changes in the operation but also monitor implementation for attracting such funds,” said Davies.

He added that another issue faced by MSMEs is the absence of firms for providing necessary guidelines for their expansion. The MSMEs require firms which will help them understand and propose course of action suitable for each of the enterprises. In some cases, intervention is required to strengthen managements and KITCO is ready to provide support as a partner in such instances. In the first phase, 10 enterprises operating in various sectors will be selected under the programme.

KITCO, established in 1972 as a technical consultancy organisation (TCO), has successfully implemented more than 600 projects of various sizes across sectors such as aviation, real estate, tourism, roads and bridges, oil and gas and industrial parks. The firm, which employs more than 300 highly qualified professionals in various branches of engineering and areas such as finance, economics, management and information technology, has been providing operation and maintenance services for Cochin Special Economic Zone in Kerala and MEPZ SEZ (Tambaram, Tamil Nadu). KITCO’s clientele includes leading public sector institutions such as Airports Authority of India (AAI), Air India, NHAI, HPCL, BPCL, Mumbai Port and Maharashtra Maritime Board.

Meanwhile, KITCO is in the process of establishing pan-India presence. The company has received a good number of key assignments from public sector enterprises recently. Davies feels that the assignments from leading organisations will provide enhanced visibility to the company. KITCO is presently preparing feasibility reports for new airports at Meerut, Faizabad and Moradabad. It is now recognised in the industry as the most cost-effective designer of airport infrastructure and gives the firm a competitive advantage to utilise the emerging opportunities.

KITCO is also an empanelled consultant at Airports Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA), which determines the tariffs for aeronautical services at major airports in India. AERA has decided to adopt KITCO’s cost-effective design as benchmark for development of new airports in India. It is also the implementing agency of Air India’s Hangar Project in Nagpur.

The other projects that are in progress include development of Multipurpose jetty at Chotti Chowpatty, Girgaon, Mumbai for Mumbai Port Trust and the scrutiny of DPR for development of deep water jetty at Korlai, Raigad, Maharashtra. The Kochi-based firm has been assigned several projects by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The most important among them is a 41.5-km long four-lane road in Bengaluru. KITCO has also been working as consultant of projects implemented by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. It has also been assigned renovation works of HPCL’s 10 terminals across the country.